The Swing Shift Shuffle is a radio program of swing, big band, jazz, boogie woogie and other popular music from the 1930's and 40's that airs every Wednesday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. (US Central Time) on WEVL 89.9 FM in Memphis, Tennessee, with a live webcast at wevl.org. In addition to the radio show, this blog is dedicated to all aspects of the Swing Era, including art, automobiles, cartoons, comics, history, movies, music, news, science, technology, and anything else that happened during that time. It also includes announcements about events in the Memphis/Mid-South area related to the Swing Era, such as classic movies, concerts, dances, lectures, etc. If you see something that fits the description, send it to me at tim@wevl.org. If you would like more information about the radio show, just go to the Radio Show FAQ page.

Friday, April 30, 2010

It appears that April 30 is another one of those days on which several important events occurred during the swing era. From The People History:

1939 U.S.A. New York World's Fair - 30th April 1939: 200,000 people attended New York World’s Fair, officially opening. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the opening day address, which was not only broadcast over the various radio networks but also was televised. New York World's Fair allowed visitors to look at "The World of Tomorrow." The General Motors exhibit was titled Futurama. Philo T. Farnsworth premiered some of the first televisions at the fair. AT&T presented its first Picture Phone at the World's Fair. Salvador Dali created a pavilion that was called “Dream of Venus” The IBM Pavilion featured electric typewriters, and a fantastic machine called the electric calculator that used punched cards to enter the information for the computer to calculate the results.

1939 U.S.A. First Regular Television Service - 30th April 1939: President Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared on television for the opening of the New York World's Fair. His appearance started the first regular television service in America. (Image from TVhistory.tv).

1940 U.S.A. Jimmy Dorsey - 30th April 1940: Jimmy Dorsey and his band recorded the song "Contrasts."

1943 Spain "The Man Who Never Was" - 30th April 1943: "The Man Who Never Was" is pushed into the sea off the coast of Spain where the tide would bring the body ashore into German Hands. This was known as operation "Mincemeat". The operation was a British deception plan to convince the German High Command that Allied forces would be invading the Balkans and Sardinia instead of the island of Sicily, by planting invasion plans on a corpse the Germans would find.

1945 Germany Hitler Commits Suicide - 30th April 1945: Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide one day after they were married, just before the Russian troops entered his Berlin bunker.

1948 England First Land Rover - 30th April 1948: The Land Rover (Land Rover Series I) is shown for the first time at the Amsterdam Car Show, many of the original components were from Rover saloon cars including the 1.6 engine from the Rover P3 60 saloon. The car featured four-wheel drive.

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "Woodchopper's Ball" by Woody Herman and his Orchestra. Watch below or click on the song title to watch on YouTube. My compliments to the poster of this simple, but classic video. You cannot get any more authentic than a 1939 recording played on a 1938 gramophone.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

It is a privately funded effort to digitize 300,000 journal pages, including volumes of Moving Picture World and Photoplay, all to be made available for free. These scans are slowly being uploaded to the Internet Archive, where multiple volumes are available for perusal and download. There are revelations, curiosities, and surprises on every page of these glossies and trade journals, currently ranging from 1916 – 1930.

Demonstrating the random and seasonally inappropriate nature of my unconscious jukebox, despite an expected high temperature in the low 80's for Memphis today, this morning's Sunrise Serenade was "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" by Red Norvo and Mildred Bailey. Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line.

U of M Swing every Monday in Fieldhouse Room 118 from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. Free taster lesson from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Topics vary from week to week and include East Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Charleston, Blues and Balboa. All are welcome and no partner is required. Open practice from 8-9:45pm. Improve your moves during this dance time. Ask questions, come practice your swing dancing and have fun with other Memphis swing dancers!

Monday, April 26, 2010

A nice little hometown history item appeared in The Commercial Appeal today. Crime writer Ace Atkins based his latest novel, Infamous, on Kelly's kidnapping of a wealthy Oklahoma man and the two month, cross-country pursuit that ended with Kelly's apprehension in his (and my) hometown of Memphis. Atkins describes Kelly as "a basically likeable gangster who never even killed anyone."

This morning's Sunrise Serenade started off with a digression. The first song into my head was actually "Streetlight People" by Journey. Sometime between getting up and eating breakfast, however, "Wardance for Wooden Indians" by Raymond Scott made its way into my head. Click on the song title for the album page on emusic. Sample Clip at Track #19.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

I just recently realized that all of the three longer, color Popeye cartoons from Fleischer Studios in the mid-1930's feature a story line associated with the Tales of a Thousand and One Arabian Nights: Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves, Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp, and this short. Sinbad does not look that Arabian in this version, but the Roc, a giant bird that carries Sinbad to safety in the same Arabian Nights story, makes an appearance. From 1936 and the Internet Archive, here is Popeye Meets Sinbad the Sailor.

Friday, April 23, 2010

The Classic Movies Digest was the first to remind me that today is Shirley Temple's birthday. Although everyone remembers and adores the "Good Ship Lollipop" actress/singer/dancer from her younger days, I also enjoy seeing her in her older roles with the likes of Cary Grant and John Wayne in The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer (center) and Fort Apache.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Two posts on the Hemmings blog reveal interesting automotive contributions to the war effort during the 1940's by communities and corporations. The first was the Santa Fe Trailways articulated plywood bus. The bus line custom built the vehicle out of plywood to save war materiel, and used it to carry war workers to and from their factories, thus also saving the employees' fuel and rubber for the war effort. There is no information on whether the driver sat on top, in the bottom, or split himself in half while turning.

The other post relates that a town in Georgia bought one of GM's 1936 Futureliners and donated it to the U.S. Army for use as a mobile USO platform. The huge side door that was a feature of the Futureliners during GM's promotion "Caravan of Progress" now opened to reveal the stage.

The materials and technology may change, but the ideas are still the same. Golden Age Comic Book Stories posted some Science and Mechanics magazine covers from 1932-1936 demonstrating that the futuristic dreamers of yesteryear got at least some things right, like motorized "personal watercraft" well before jet-skis and Sea-Doos.

U of M Swing every Monday in Fieldhouse Room 118 from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. Free taster lesson from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Topics vary from week to week and include East Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Charleston, Blues and Balboa. All are welcome and no partner is required. Open practice from 8-9:45pm. Improve your moves during this dance time. Ask questions, come practice your swing dancing and have fun with other Memphis swing dancers!

Monday, April 19, 2010

From October 1939, Golden Age Comic Book Stories posted a complete edition of Wonderworld Comics. There are several stories in this issue, but I could not resist the hero's finned and streamlined car racing the locomotive to catch the bad guys.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Betty Boop's friend Pudgy the Pooch tries to help out a wandering feline in this 1938 animated short. For an added bonus, this version of the cartoon has German subtitles. How do you say "Boop Boop A Doop" in German? From the Internet Archive, here is The Lost Kitten.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Classic Movies Digest posted an interesting review of the 1932 film, The Most Dangerous Game, starring Joel McCrea and Fay Wray. The villian, played by Leslie Banks, is a mad hunter who steers ships to wreck near his island so he can hunt the survivors for sport.

Don't miss tonight's broadcast of the Swing Shift Shuffle, the Spring Pledge Drive Special: "On The Move." I'll be featuring songs about boats, cars, planes, trains and other forms of transportation. You can hear it tonight from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. (CDT) on 89.9 FM in Memphis, or anywhere at wevl.org, where you can also make a pledge to WEVL! Don't miss the bus!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The weekly Red Hot Lindy Hop lesson and session continues this Friday night. Free admission before 7:00 p.m., and $5 afterwards. The lesson will be with Mike and Jeska, followed by music with DJ Jeska.

U of M Swing every Monday in Fieldhouse Room 118 from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. Free taster lesson from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Topics vary from week to week and include East Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Charleston, Blues and Balboa. All are welcome and no partner is required. Open practice from 8-9:45pm. Improve your moves during this dance time. Ask questions, come practice your swing dancing and have fun with other Memphis swing dancers!

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was a locomotivating "Choo, Choo, Ch' Boogie" by Louis Jordan, which you will be able to hear during the Swing Shift Shuffle Spring Pledge Drive special tomorrow afternoon entitled "On The Move." Here is a preview, accompanied by an appropriate railroad-themed montage.

Monday, April 12, 2010

In one of its "Image of the Day" postings, Chuck Redux featured Chuck Jones' watercolor birthday "card" to his daughter, Linda, on her 12th birthday in 1949. In addition to Bugs Bunny Riding Lord Mischief, the post also has the companion photo of Linda Jones on the horse.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

The radio home of the Swing Shift Shuffle, WEVL Memphis, 89.9 FM, begins its Spring Pledge Drive tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. Tune in to hear 9 days of special programming and live music; and be sure to become a member, renew your membership, give a gift membership and/or just make a donation. We need you to keep Swing Shift Shuffle and all the other great WEVL programms on the air! You can listen and pledge online at wevl.org.

From Film Noir Photos, here is a shot of several famous film and radio stars inaugurating a new short wave radio show for soldiers in August 1942. From left to right: Gene Tierney, Edgar Bergen (and Charlie McCarthy), Ginny Sims, Bob Burns, and Betty Hutton.

7th April 1933: After years of prohibition since 1920 when the Eighteenth Amendment was put into effect prohibiting the import, export, transport, sale and manufacture of intoxicating liquor; beer is sold once again in 19 of the 48 states and the District of Columbia .

7th April 1949: Rodgers and Hammerstein debut their hit musical South Pacific on Broadway.

The Golden Gate Quartet must be popular with my unconscious, because they returned for the third straight day on the Sunrise Serenade. This morning's piece was "Fare You Well, Fare You Well." Click on the song title for the album on emusic. Sample clip at Track #17.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

More Red Hot Lindy Hop lesson and session this Friday night. Free admission before 7:00 p.m., and $5 afterwards. The lesson will be with Kirk and Michelle, followed by music with special guest DJ Willow.

U of M Swing every Monday in Fieldhouse Room 118 from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. Free taster lesson from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Topics vary from week to week and include East Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Charleston, Blues and Balboa. All are welcome and no partner is required. Open practice from 8-9:45pm. Improve your moves during this dance time. Ask questions, come practice your swing dancing and have fun with other Memphis swing dancers!

My unconscious must be continuing to celebrate Easter, because today's Sunrise Serenade was "Daniel Saw The Stone" by the Golden Gate Quartet, back by popular (or at least subliminal) demand from yesterday. Click on the song title for the album page on emusic. Sample clip at Track #2.

Monday, April 5, 2010

A collector dropped by the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive with "Scooper" Conlon's scrapbook. Conlon was a publicist who worked in Hollywood from the silent era into the 1950's. Included in the scrapbook were sketches from artists and animators during the 1930's and 40's. Of particular interest to me was the caricature of the cast of Gunga Din (1939) (one of my favorite movies) by an MGM artist. From left to right, Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

In January, the ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive began a series of podcasts on animation. In the first episode (A-HAA Podcast 001: Antran Manoogian on Raymond Scott) the keynote speaker is the President of the ASIFA-Hollywood, who discussed the influence of Raymond Scott's music on cartoons. Anyone who has ever seen a classic Warner Bros. cartoon has heard Scott's music. Despite the suitability of the music to animation, Scott did not write these well-known tunes for cartoons. He just wrote them. He did not even watch cartoons. The podcast post even features a video of Scott's Quintette performing War Dance for Wooden Indians.